When You Want Your Husband to Lead: 7 Questions to Ask – 6 Things to Remember

Before I was married, the conversations I had with my single friends often revolved around the topic of what kind of guy we wanted to marry. Inevitably, at the top of the list of qualities we were looking for was the most important quality:

He had to be a godly leader!

We were looking for our godly leader to come sweep us off our feet and lead us through life. We wouldn’t settle for anything less. And of course, we were ready to be led.

Or so we thought.

Oh, we meant well. It all sounded good. But the truth of the matter is that none of us really had a clue what biblical leadership really meant and none of us really wanted to be led. We thought we did, but if we had taken a closer look at the scriptures we would have seen the sobering reality that lies within every female heart : Our desire is to rule over men.

“…you will desire to control your husband, but he will rule over you.” Gen. 3:16 NLT

“…your desire shall be against your husband, and he shall rule over you.” Gen. 3:16 ESV

One by one my friends and I got married. We went off into the sunset with our men. It didn’t take long for us to see that we hadn’t married the leaders we had dreamed of. They weren’t doing it right. They weren’t doing it right at all. So, we decided it was our job to instruct them and we began to point out the ways in which they needed to grow in their leadership abilities. And if they tried to make any major decisions, we questioned them because they really didn’t measure up to what we had decided was a “godly leader”.

I remember clearly the day that my husband and I sat in our pastor’s office. We had been married for less than a year and my husband was failing miserably as a leader… at least in my estimation he was.

Discouraged and defeated, my husband willingly agreed to go with me to talk with our pastor about the problem.

After we (I) stated our case, my pastor paused for a few seconds, looked at both of us, then directed his full attention to me and said very kindly yet sternly, “Gina, do you realize that there is more than one style of leadership? Brian has a particular personality and will lead you in his own way. He is growing in his leadership abilities and you need to allow him to do that.”

I was completely humbled and ashamed at how I had been treating my precious husband. I had been so busy holding him to an ideal of what I thought leadership should look like, that I had missed all that my husband was already doing and what a kind, gentle, grace filled leader he had already been growing in to!

We have been married for 27 years now and I have seen this scenario with young dating and married couples more times than I can count. I often feel sorry for the men I have seen who are carrying the burden that their girlfriends or wives unknowingly heap on their shoulders in the way I did my own husband all those years ago. I often remind my son that if he dates a girl who is constantly reminding him to “be a leader” and then proceeds to tell him how it should be done, she is never pleased by his efforts, or doesn’t give him room to be learning, then he needs to be aware that there is a good chance that he is dating a “nag in training!”

Ask yourself some questions:

Did your husband grow up in an atmosphere where he was taught what his God ordained role is?

Has your husband had any good examples or mentors in his life who have lived out an authentic (not perfect) leadership model?

Is he growing in his understanding of what godly leadership is?

Does your church teach about a husband’s leadership role?

Are you a wife who truly wants to be led?

Do you allow him to lead or do you challenge him for the leadership of the home and tell him what a bad job he is doing?

Are you able to see his efforts at leading?

Look for his efforts to:

Lead in love – Does he show love? How does he show his love to you? Does he make effort to spend time with you? Is he striving to be a loving husband/leader?

Lead by initiating – Is he making even the smallest efforts to initiate leadership? Does he try to lead, but it is not what you think it should “look like”? Try to see his efforts, even if it is not your ideal. Don’t nag. Don’t expect perfection.

Lead spiritually – Is he in the Word regularly? Do you see him making effort to pray, be a part of a church community, or encourage those around him?

Lead in conflict resolution – Does he make effort to work through problems and deal with conflicts. Do you see his efforts, even if they aren’t what you would like them to be? Can you appreciate the efforts he does make?

Lead in being an authentic (not perfect) example – Is he working at being a good example and trying to walk in faith? (Authentic! not perfect!) Is he striving to be godly in his speech, patience, purity, faith, pursuit of God, personal discipline, and commitment to moral principles?

Lead in humility – When he fails to be the example, does he humbly acknowledgement his failure? Does he acknowledge his weaknesses? Is he desiring to grow and victory in his battle? Is he a man who strives to practice what he preaches?

Lead in serving – Does he serve you, your family, and others in any way? Does he help around the house, help your neighbor, in your church or community? Does he come home from a long day at work and help you with the kids, clean up dinner, or take the time to hear about your day?

Lead in decision making – Does he include you in the decision making? Does he take time to wisely make decisions? Does he try to make good decisions? Does he consider the best interest of you and your family? Does he try to find middle ground? Ultimately, are you willing to go with his decision, even if you don’t agree with it?

What about YOU? – Do you see that he is open and learning to be a leader? Do you see his efforts? Do you really believe God has called him to be the leader of your home? Do you want God to speak through your husband and use him as a godly man to lead your family?

Ask God to speak to your heart and help you to be your husband’s biggest encourager and cheerleader in his calling. Only then will he be able to continue to grow in this calling, and learn his calling fully.

6 Things to Remember:

The man you marry will never be a perfect leader and you need to give him room for that.

The man you marry will be in a process of growth and learning until he dies (like you are!).

The man you marry has a unique, God given personality and temperament, and you need to give him room to be who God made him to be and allow leadership to show itself in the way he is meant to lead.

You need to be sure that you understand what true biblical leadership is, and work hard to not impose your interpretation of what we think it should look like.

The best thing you can do for the man you marry is pray for him, asking God to help him to grow in his understanding of what biblical leadership is and how he is to live that out.

Pray that God would help you see any little effort that your husband makes to be a leader, and then be sure to tell him how much you appreciate it!

As I wrote this post, my grown son and his girlfriend walked through the living room. Bible in hand, my son was getting ready to spend time leading her in some Bible reading. He is learning to be a leader. He is not perfect and never will be, but he knows his calling and is making efforts. He has already begun his journey of learning his calling to lead. He has joined my husband in one of the hardest callings on this earth. My goal is to encourage him in his efforts as much as I can. He’s had a great example in his father.

I am so thankful for the lesson God taught me over 25 years ago. I pray that God will enable my son to learn well his calling in the same way he continues to enable my husband.

Blessings,

Gina Smith

Gina Smith is a busy mom of two, and wife to Brian. She and her husband have been in ministry together for over 20 years, working with college students and young married couples. Gina has recently authored her first book, entitled: “Grace Gifts: Celebrating Your Children Every Day”, You can find Gina at her personal blog: www.reallifetitustwo.com

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Comments

Wow, a great post. This is exactly what I needed to hear. I am currently in a courtship with a wonderful man, and some of those points described I have been struggling with.
I pray that God gives me wisdom to implement all that I have just read in my marriage!
Thank you for the wonderful post!

I usually like all the posts you have on here. I have a problem with the 2 quotes from the Bible, they are wrong. In the King James Bible it says “… and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.” it says “TO ” thy husband not against or to control. Since the King James version came before the other 2 versions used here maybe consider the validity of those versions and check it out to see how many more differences there are. The rest of it is good and good advice.

This post struck home for me. I can’t tell you how many times I have been frustrated with the “way” my husband does things. I think to myself “why can’t he just listen?”. This is a reminder that I have to let go of the reins and let him lead. Part of that is trusting his decisions and giving him words of encouragement. Thank you so much for bringing this to my attention, it’s confirmation to what I was told earlier in the week and couldn’t have come at a better time. God bless!

Dawn, She used it correctly. The Bible interprets itself. In the KJV where it says, “thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee” and in the next chapter the same is said about sin, “sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.” Sins desire is to rule over us just as a woman’s desire is to rule over her husband and try to control him. This is why there are several places in the Bible that state women are to obey, submit to, and reverence their husbands and the husbands are the head over the woman. God would not have had to command this to women if it came naturally!

Not to be contrary but the word ‘desire’ in Gen 3:16 ‘teshuwwah (tesh-oo-kaw) is in the sense of stretching out after; a longing:–desire. It is the same word used for Gen 4:7. There is no sense of the woman wanting to control the man. The result of the fall is that women have a unhealthy (yes, sinful) desire to be close to the, man even to her own detrement. And men will have a unhealthy ( yes, sinful) desire to rule overher.

This a ‘description’ of the effects of the fall. Not a ‘prescription’ of how to have a healthy Godly marriage.

A quick word on the passage under discussion: Genesis 3:16 is a curse–God is pronouncing the consequences sin will have for Adam and Eve. A number of good things will be damaged or distorted. Specifically, the husband/wife relationship will be effected by sin so that too often a husband will be abusive or controlling and a wife will suffer. Who doesn’t know someone who seems attracted to men who are no good?

While this curse describes that damaged husband/wife relationship that exists too often in the world, it does not negate the plan of God. In Genesis 2 and Ephesians 6 we aren’t seeing a burden or a curse and we aren’t seeing God making the best of his fallen people. God’s roles for husband and wife were part of a perfect creation. To embrace them is good. Yes, we will stumble and fall short each day in these roles (as we stumble in all aspects of our lives). Yet, daily there is forgiveness. And there is blessing in seeking to live according to God’s plan and instruction.

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About the Author

I'm an Evangelical Christian whose number one priority is to serve Jesus Christ in every area of my life.
My husband Michael and I live in Manitoba Canada. Married 25 years, we have four children (three still at home), a bird and two pugs who are everyone's babies, especially mine! Our lives are basically surrounded with three things: our faith, music and everything books.
I’m an award winning and New York Times best-selling author who is nothing without the grace of God.
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